


Jadebot: Make a friend.

by doxian



Series: Homestuck Shipping World Cup 2014 [10]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Dream Bubbles, F/F, Homestuck Shipping World Cup 2014, Robots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-08
Updated: 2014-07-08
Packaged: 2018-02-07 23:47:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1918728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doxian/pseuds/doxian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>ARADIABOT: at least in the afterlife we d0nt have t0 get bl0wn up as a c0nsequence 0f 0ur alpha selves ch0ices anym0re<br/>ARADIABOT: it g0t kind of tires0me<br/>JADEBOT: yeah!!!!<br/>JADEBOT: exploding really takes it out of you<br/>JADEBOT: it was kind of mean and inconsiderate of our other selves to make us go through that wasnt it</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jadebot: Make a friend.

**Author's Note:**

> Fill for this [br4 prompt](http://hs-worldcup.dreamwidth.org/21508.html?thread=6023940#cmt6023940): RoboRomance trope: Where robots fall in love with other robots. (See WALL-E and EVA)
> 
> Mentions of dismemberment and broken robots.

The dream bubbles feel so familiar to you that you have little to no readjustment period - you only need to quickly recalibrate your systems and you're good to go. After all, you were created for dreams, everything you did while you existed on Earth was because of dreams. Dreams are all you've ever really known.

For a while, all you do is float around aimlessly, recording footage of the ever-shifting terrain as it morphs from massive beached shipwreck to fiery brain trees to the verdant forests ringing the Frog Temple Ruins and back again. Your internal clock seems to be malfunctioning. It has the same five hours on a loop, late afternoon to evening, but what you can observe from your surroundings clearly contradicts that. Either both data streams are wrong, or they're both correct.

Floating in the sky of your bubble, you watch its other inhabitants vigilantly. You see horned and tough grey-skinned alien creatures. You see several different versions of your friends. You don't see Jade anywhere. You never approach any of the people you come across - you just observe. You were created to observe and, though indirectly, protect - unable to do the latter, you do plenty of the former. 

The first time you meet another creation like you, you're busy exploring the Frog Temple Ruins - not yours, another version of them. This one is in a desert, with the central frog tower broken off and spirited away somewhere. Seeing the tower cleaved in half is so strange to you that you eagerly snap a variety of stills from different angles in addition to the video you're continually taking.

You catch sight of her hovering directly opposite you, a few feet away, not making any attempt to avoid detection. 

ARADIABOT: why are y0u d0ing that

They're the first words anyone has ever said to you - specifically to you, and not to Jade relayed through you - since your Grandpa had died.

JADEBOT: thats a silly question!!!  
JADEBOT: because these ruins are really cool of course  
JADEBOT: even if they are more broken than my ruins  
JADEBOT: what are you doing here? do you live here?

She's designed to look like one of those aliens, with sweeping curved horns and a symbol on her chest, like yours, just in a deeper shade of blue. You don't appear to have data on the type of metal she's made of, and you've been unable to access the web since entering this bubble, so you can't run a search. You'll just have to content yourself with not knowing, at least for now. 

ARADIABOT: in a manner 0f speaking  
ARADIABOT: this is where my b0dy fell after i died   
JADEBOT: are you haunting this place, like youre in a ghost story? :o   
JADEBOT: i never thought about it before but we are ghosts now arent we  
JADEBOT: ooooo spooooky  
JADEBOT: except we have no souls so im not sure how the ghost thing works  
ARADIABOT: i like it here  
ARADIABOT: the ruins h0ld many pleasant mem0ries f0r me  
ARADIABOT: it was als0 the site where i disc0vered the game that w0uld lead to my and my entire races imminent and t0tal annihilati0n   
ARADIA: but thats neither here n0r there  
ARADIABOT: ribbit  
ARADIABOT: wh00ps  
ARADIABOT: 0_0  
JADEBOT: ........  
ARADIABOT: i had a s0ul  
ARADIABOT: f0r a while  
ARADIABOT: but y0u didnt did y0u  
JADEBOT: no  
JADEBOT: thats why im not sure how im here  
JADEBOT: i might be a splinter?   
ARADIABOT: thats 0k  
ARADIABOT: y0ull be 0k with n0t having a s0ul  
ARADIABOT: just as y0ure 0k with n0t being alive  
ARADIABOT: eventually   
ARADIABOT: having a c0mplete s0ul is highly 0verrated anyway  
ARADIABOT: i w0uldnt recommend it  
ARADIABOT: i have little mem0ry 0f it  
ARADIABOT: but i believe things were simpler for me when i was merely a r0b0t and n0t a c0ntainer f0r a sweaty assh0les unrequited c0ncupiscent crush  
JADEBOT: :oo   
ARADIABOT: s0 h0w did y0u die

You'd been admiring the beauty and intricacy of her design, camera zooming in on the delicate joints in her hands, but you pause at the unexpected question, a little affronted. 

JADEBOT: thats a pretty personal question! i dont know if i want to tell you   
JADEBOT: why dont you tell me how you died first

She tells you. It's not just she who dies, but countless other versions of herself, too, summoned to defeat her session's Black King and left behind to be blown to bits once her alpha self had exited her universe. She'd lost an arm in the battle, and a leg, before eventually crashing to the ground. You hum in sympathy - it's hard for you to picture her in pieces and broken with her new and whole in front of you now, as if the events she described had never happened. 

JADEBOT: oh  
JADEBOT: i blew up too  
JADEBOT: because jade decided to save our friend john and had to die to do it  
ARADIABOT: at least in the afterlife we d0nt have t0 get bl0wn up as a c0nsequence 0f 0ur alpha selves ch0ices anym0re  
ARADIABOT: it g0t kind of tires0me  
JADEBOT: yeah!!!!  
JADEBOT: exploding really takes it out of you   
JADEBOT: it was kind of mean and inconsiderate of our other selves to make us go through that wasnt it

You've finished panning over her chassis and taking inventory of it, but even though you've done all the surveying you are capable of in this context, you don't want to leave her and move on to the next dreamscape. 

JADEBOT: hey!  
JADEBOT: why dont you come with me?  
JADEBOT: we can explore the bubbles together

She gazes down at the sandy ground below you almost wistfully before looking up at the glimmering, multi-colored sheen of the dream bubble's edge above you. 

ARADIABOT: alright 

She agrees just in time. You can see the looming mass of another bubble approaching you from above, threatening to merge briefly with your current bubble temporarily before continuing on its leisurely way. 

You take her cool, beautifully-made hand in yours, and you both float off, higher and higher, as lightly as if you were bubbles yourselves.


End file.
